


Evolution of the End of Loneliness

by Merfilly



Category: Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Rare Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-01
Updated: 2011-11-01
Packaged: 2017-10-25 14:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/271463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four firsts and one last for Thundercracker and Bumblebee</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evolution of the End of Loneliness

**Author's Note:**

> While this is inspired by events in IDW, it takes a left turn from canon.

_ First Vigil _

The aftermath of Asia was severe enough, with Starscream interfering once again in Thundercracker's existence, that a rescue by Autobots was a real bad tank of fuel. It galled the Seeker to be dependent on an Autobot for salvation, even as he slipped ever closer to the stasis his injuries were demanding. His last sight before his processor slipped away from reality was of a small yellow blur fast approaching.

That small yellow blur was in sharper detail when Thundercracker roused to the reek of regen fluid on his own frame.

"You my guard?" Thundercracker forced out, vocalizer and chronometer letting him know he'd been out of it a little while.

"Thought I might be your friend," the minibot answered, his own voice gruff and harsh from recent repairs and disuse. "They just took you out of the tank maybe an earth hour ago."

"You were here for that?" Thundercracker asked, not quite comfortable with that appellation applied to any mech on either side.

"Yeah." Bumblebee stood up, stiff and uncoordinated at first. "Don't go rushing off." He said it as cheerfully as he could, but there was something under it that Thundercracker thought he knew.

The specter of loneliness hung over an Autobot that was purported to be among the friendliest of his kind.

Wheeljack came over in short order, checking statistics. "Heard him say not to rush off. Have to agree with him on this call."

"Yeah, well, what's he know," Thundercracker growled softly, earning him a hard slam of the Autobot's hand down on his shoulder.

"Might not like the slagging way he's been handling his duties, Seeker-bait, but even I gotta respect the fact he stayed in here every moment your slagging aft was in the tank that he could!" Wheeljack snapped. "So ease off on the tough guy routine where he's concerned!" With that, Wheeljack stormed off to other duties, leaving Thundercracker in stunned silence.

Even Skywarp had never sat vigil for him before…

`~`~`~`~`

 _ First Argument _

"No." The word came on the heels of Thundercracker's request.

"You are being completely unreasonable!" Thundercracker immediately accused his ally.

"I can't commit that kind of response!" Bumblebee replied to that accusation.

They glared, long and hard, at each other, each unwilling to bend on this issue. Bumblebee gave way first, as he realized this was the first time in their alliance that they had really found a point they could not compromise on.

"TC… I'm their commander," he entreated.

"And I thought you said I was your friend. Or is that held so low by your kind now?" Thundercracker's cold tone was punctuated by the staccato of him leaving, to Bumblebee's growing fear over the situation.

`~`~`~`~`

 _ First Sacrifice _

Thundercracker was pinned down, the heavy boulder on his wing, and he was staring up at the deathly visage of a berserk gestalt. Maybe he shouldn't have come, but he'd been so angry that his pride demanded he do what that strutless Autobot had refused to help with.

Maybe it was better this way, ending what Skywarp had meant to in that awful moment.

The sound of missiles impacting the gestalt was preceded by a suicidal run at the gigantic nemesis that turned into a cannonball of yellow fury aimed at the crucial torso join. Thundercracker could not believe his optics, and finally rolled enough to shatter the boulder pinning him down, hissing at the jagged pieces of that tore at his sensors and plating. In the mayhem of a broken gestalt crumbling to pieces, Thundercracker got back to his pedes and began shooting at the individual members.

From there, it was a rout, as the rogue gestalt had been relying on brute force and size, not strategy. All he had to do was hack the console and he'd have what he wanted….

"Bumblebee?"

There was no answer, which made Thundercracker look, seeing Bumblebee not far from where the gestalt had exploded apart. He was still smoking, electricity arcing back and forth in exposed gaps of his armor.

"PITS!"

His objective forgotten, Thundercracker went to the fallen Autobot, kneeling and quickly reaching out to lay a hand on the small mech's chestplates.

The flicker of energy was low, but there. It wouldn't be for long unless Thundercracker acted quickly.

"Slag it," the Seeker growled. "Not supposed to be that much like that noble fool, Bumblebee!"

`~`~`~`~`

 _ First Showdown _

The growing circle of Autobots was _not_ making Thundercracker nervous. Who cared what the slaggers thought or did? He was only still here because Bumblebee felt mortified over Thundercracker having to bring him back to base instead of retrieving those plans.

"Don't much care for you," one of the surly Autobots said.

"Definitely don't care for you messin' with 'Bee's processor," another added, tightening the circle.

"So maybe you should be leaving, now." This last voice was fierce, ready to fight, and Thundercracker understood that language too well.

It was pure Decepticon, and he very nearly swung, just to show he wasn't intimidated. But that was part of the problem, wasn't it?

"You all have lost who you might have once been. No better than any of my kind, if you think violence is the way to solve your processor-ache." He turned his heel thrusters on, going up, leaving them to choke on jet-fumes and their bitterness along with his words that were aimed truer than his blasters.

`~`~`~`~`

 _ Last Denial _

"I appreciate you not tackling them for their … protectiveness."

"Not worth my time."

"And I couldn't bring them to danger, but that didn't mean I couldn't help my friend."

"Shouldn't have; friendship isn't all it's cracked to be, you know."

"Then maybe it's something more, Thundercracker."

Before the taciturn Seeker could even vocalize how idiotic that was, the Autobot had moved to give him that slagging pitifully hopeful look.

This time, he couldn't deny his own need to meet the loneliness of the minibot with his own, in anguished hope of banishing it for them both.


End file.
